Clays, fancy shotguns and rain.

Furync

Furync

CGN Regular
EE Expired
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Location
Vaudreuil-Dorion, QC
Hi gang,

I have a question for you O/U owners out there. This weekend, I went to the spring shoot of sporting clays at the Montreal Skeet Club and it was wet, hard rain all day. I should also mention I dont have much experience with clay shooting.

I was using my only good shotgun: rem 870 express super mag. My friend was using a regular 870, all the others in our group were using fancy O/U. After a while in the rain, I realised the pocket I had my shells in was allmost half full of water, I didn't figure much of it, and just kept feeding the 870 without any problems. The other guys all had problems with their guns, once in a while, only 1 barrel would fire, the other one would not. And I'm pretty sure it wasn't their ammo either.

Since I'm really liking this clay shooting thing, I was kinda looking around for a good O/U, since yesterday, I'm not so sure anymore.

So here's my question, do all O/U shotguns go south when wet? Or could it be due to un-proper maintenance?? (I dont know them so I have no idea what they do for TLC on guns)

Thanks in advance for the replies!!! :)
 
i'm sure many other CGNers as well as myself have shot out O/U in light rain, heavy rain, light snow, heavy snow, etc. /w no problems what so ever....

if their guns were well maintained, i assume the problem would be the ammo...
 
Furync said:
So here's my question, do all O/U shotguns go south when wet? Or could it be due to un-proper maintenance?? (I dont know them so I have no idea what they do for TLC on guns)
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It's hard to say without knowing what guns they were using.

I've shot Berettas, Brownings, Winchesters, Krieghoffs and Perazzis in all sorts of weather and never had a weather related problem. I have seen Browning Citoris occasionally have problems in freezing rain conditions but not very often. My theory is that they can ice up inside due to the open bottom on the receiver but that's just speculation.

I shot yesteday in heavy rain and I'd rather have my o/u in bad conditions because it's easy to dry out after. Remove the stock, drop the trigger assembly, remove the barrels and forearm and the gun was dried out in no time. The last time I shot my semi in bad weather getting it clean and dry was a far more time consuming exercise.
 
Something sounds fishy - I have shot a rem 870 and my (new) beretta 20 ga in all kinds of weather with no problems. And on boxing day 2005, we tried to hold a mini skeet shoot at 15 below and windy. Some of the pumps stiffened up when the oil got cold, but the O/U's kept working until coctail hour.

(C.H. Started at 12:30 as I remember!)
 
No problem with any of my shotguns in the rain.
Beretta & Bowning O/U's, Browning SxS, Remington & Winchester pumps.
Have typically taken the Remington south ... no problem with Caribbean downpours in the mangroves.
 
My guees would be their reloads got a little wet and failed to fire..... I use my browning O/U in all conditions, never an issue. I did have some dirty burning reloads cause trouble from time to time.
 
I'd guess that the FTF problems had little to nothing to do with the rain. I've shot my O/U in some nasty rain.

Some Brownings have problems hitting deeply seated primers in the over barrel. Federal seems to be one of the brands of ammo with deeply seated primers. I'd guess even if it was perfect weather, the same problems would have resulted.

Brad.
 
You cant get much more rain than in the lower mainland of B.C. The last 4-5 Sundays we have been in it. The malfunctions i have seen with autos or o/u have been with people using reloads. After every outing i completely dissasembly and clean my auto.

I often see people on this forum that seem proud to never clean there guns until they malfunction. Why would you do this? All the dirt, spent powder etc acts as an abrasive and causes wear. Have a good one.
 
O/u

When the weather is that bad my O/U's stay in the case. I'll use my weatherproof Benelli SBE with a synthetic camo stock on those rainy days. Actually shoot that Benelli on a lot of fine days as I shoot it as well as my O'U's - one of my favorite guns. Cleanup is simple as no gas tubes to clean.

REM
 
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beretta boy said:
No rain here ... -28 last night !!!
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I wont trade you rain for -28, i have been there. As far as "rem 3200" leaving his o/u at home because of rain, he shouldent worry. I shot in the rain last Sunday and on my squad, they had one Krieghoff and several nice Berreta o/u . The owners were not concerned about the rain.
 
oldfart said:
I wont trade you rain for -28, i have been there. As far as "rem 3200" leaving his o/u at home because of rain, he shouldent worry. I shot in the rain last Sunday and on my squad, they had one Krieghoff and several nice Berreta o/u . The owners were not concerned about the rain.
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Well "oldfart" if I'm going to be quoted get it right, I said I leave the overunders " in the case " not at home. It's not that I worry about them but a choice to take care of them and if I don't have to subject the wood to get soaked and unwanted rust on the guns I'll avoid subjecting them to dowpours.

The SBE is a hunting gun and serves very well as a wet weather sporting gun that I don't have any worries about subjecting to the elements or hunting use. Worked hard to purcahse those sporting guns and my choice to keep them in excellent condition. What others do is their choice .
 
furync don't be put off by one bad experience with o/u's. Can't imagine what was wrong with those "fancy" guns. I started out with a pump, went to a semi and shot that for 25 years. Finally bought an o/u and never looked back. Still have a semi for back up but much prefer my stack barrel. Lots of rain and cold weather here and we have no trouble with o/u's. Save your penny's, try lots of guns and then buy the best you can afford. You won't regret it.:)
 
I shot yesteday in heavy rain and I'd rather have my o/u in bad conditions because it's easy to dry out after. Remove the stock, drop the trigger assembly, remove the barrels and forearm and the gun was dried out in no time. The last time I shot my semi in bad weather getting it clean and dry was a far more time consuming exercise.
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x2

O/U are one of the simpliest (reliable) designs in firearms period. If they were in working order to begin with they should function long after the weather has disabled a pump or semi.
 
REM3200 said:
Well "oldfart" if I'm going to be quoted get it right, I said I leave the overunders " in the case " not at home. It's not that I worry about them but a choice to take care of them and if I don't have to subject the wood to get soaked and unwanted rust on the guns I'll avoid subjecting them to dowpours.

The SBE is a hunting gun and serves very well as a wet weather sporting gun that I don't have any worries about subjecting to the elements or hunting use. Worked hard to purcahse those sporting guns and my choice to keep them in excellent condition. What others do is their choice .
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Sorry i didnt mean to upset you Rem 3200.
 
oldfart said:
Sorry i didnt mean to upset you Rem 3200.
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:D No slight taken at all - Just being defensive and overly fussy on the care of my firearms.

When I go to a Sporting Clays shoot always have a O/U and a semi along with me and only decide when there which I'll shoot. I'n the re-entry I'll usually take the other gun and use it and compare the scores.
 
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